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Tutorial 3: Chapter 3: Special Functions

This document contains questions related to special functions including: 1) Solving differential equations using Gaussian hypergeometric functions. 2) Verifying formulas for hypergeometric functions by expanding in power series. 3) Obtaining linearly independent solutions to hypergeometric equations. 4) Showing properties of Bessel functions and using them to solve differential equations. 5) Deriving formulas for Legendre polynomials and showing their properties including orthogonality.

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Afiq Adnan
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50 views3 pages

Tutorial 3: Chapter 3: Special Functions

This document contains questions related to special functions including: 1) Solving differential equations using Gaussian hypergeometric functions. 2) Verifying formulas for hypergeometric functions by expanding in power series. 3) Obtaining linearly independent solutions to hypergeometric equations. 4) Showing properties of Bessel functions and using them to solve differential equations. 5) Deriving formulas for Legendre polynomials and showing their properties including orthogonality.

Uploaded by

Afiq Adnan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Tutorial 3

Chapter 3: Special Functions


The questions are essentially taken from the book of Nagle et al.

Question 3.1. Express a general solution to the given equation using Gaussian hypergeo-
metric functions.
Ç å
1
00 (c) 2x(1 − x)y 00 + (1 − 6x)y 0 − 2y = 0
(a) x(1 − x)y + − 4x y 0 − 2y = 0
2
(b) 2x(1 − x)y 00 + 3(1 − 10x)y 0 − 6y = 0 (d) 3x(1 − x)y 00 + (1 − 27x)y 0 − 45y = 0

Question 3.2. Verify the following formulas by expanding each function in a power series
about x = 0.

(a) F (1, 1; 2; x) = −x−1 ln(1 − x) (c) F (α, β; β; x) = (1 − x)−α


Ç å Ç å Ç å
1 3 1 1+x 1 3
(b) F , 1; ; x2 = x−1 ln (d) F , 1; ; −x2 = x−1 arctan x
2 2 2 1−x 2 2

Question 3.3. Obtain two linearly independent solutions to the given hypergeometric equa-
tion.

(a) x(1 − x)y 00 + (1 − 3x)y 0 − y = 0 1


(b) x(1 − x)y 00 + (2 − 2x)y 0 − y = 0
4

Question 3.4. Show that the confluent hypergeometric equation

xy 00 + (γ − x)y 0 − αy = 0

1
Tutorial 3.

where α and γ are fixed parameters and γ is not an integer, has two linearly independent
solutions
∞
X (α)n n
y1 (x) =1 F1 (α; γ; x) := 1 + x
n=1 n!(γ)n
and
y2 (x) = x1−γ
1 F1 (α + 1 − γ); 2 − γ; x).

Question 3.5. Express the general solution to the given equation using Bessel’s functions
of either the first or the second kind.

(a) 4x2 y 00 + 4xy 0 + (4x2 − 1)y = 0 (d) x2 y 00 + xy 0 + x2 y = 0

(b) 9x2 y 00 + 9xy 0 + (9x2 − 16)y = 0 (e) 9t2 x00 + 9tx0 + (9t2 − 4)x = 0

(c) x2 y 00 + xy 0 + (x2 − 1)y = 0 (f) x2 z 00 + xz 0 + (x2 − 16)z = 0

Question 3.6. For the appropriate choice of ν, the Bessel function Jν (x) is one solution.
Obtain a second linearly independent solution.

(a) x2 y 00 + xy 0 + (x2 − 1)y = 0 (b) x2 y 00 + xy 0 + (x2 − 4)y = 0

Question 3.7. Show that xν Jν (x) satisfies the equation

xy 00 + (1 − 2ν)y 0 + xy = 0, x>0

and use the result to find a solution for the equations

xy 00 − 2y 0 + xy = 0, x > 0.

Question 3.8. Derive the following formulas (see Section 8.8 of the reference book):
d î −ν
x Jν (x) = −x−ν Jν+1 (x),
ó
dx
2ν
Jν+1 (x) = Jν (x) − Jν−1 (x),
x
Jν+1 (x) = Jν−1 (x) − 2Jν0 (x).

Question 3.9. Show that


Ç å1/2
2
J 1 (x) = sin x,
2 πx

2
Ç å1/2
2
J− 21 (x) = cos x.
πx
Question 3.10. Use the formula given below to determine the first five Legendre polynomi-
als:
(n/2)
−n (−1)m (2n − 2m)!
xn−2m ,
X
Pn (x) = 2
m=0 (n − m)! m! (n − 2m)!
where (n/2) is the greatest integer less than or equal to n/2.

Question 3.11. Show that the Legendre polynomials of even degree are even functions of x
while those of odd degree are odd functions.

Question 3.12.

(a) Show that the orthogonality condition


ˆ 1
Pm (x) Pn (x) dx = 0, for n 6= m
−1

for the Legendre polynomials implies that


ˆ 1
Pn (x) q(x) dx = 0
−1

for any polynomial q(x) of degree at most n − 1.


Hint: The polynomials P0 , P1 , . . . , Pn−1 are linearly independent and hence span the space
of all polynomials of degree at most n − 1. Thus q(x) = a0 P0 (x) + · · · an−1 Pn−1 (x) for a
suitable constant ak .

(b) Prove that if Qn (x) is a polynomial of degree n such that


ˆ 1
Qn (x) Pk (x) dx = 0
−1

for k = 0, 1, . . . , n − 1, then
Qn (x) = cPn (x)

for some constant c.


Hint: Select c so that the coefficient of xn for Qn (x) − cPn (x) is zero. Since P0 , P1 , . . . , Pn−1
is a basis, then
Qn (x) − cPn (x) = a0 P0 (x) + · · · an−1 Pn−1 (x).

Multiply the above equation by Pk (x) for k ∈ [0, n − 1] and integrate from x = −1 to x = 1
to show that each ak is zero.

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